2002 Citroen C5 Prestige 2.0 Hdi from Netherlands

Summary:

A comfortable and attractive car

Faults:

An oil leak one week after collecting it from the dealer supposedly due to a badly fitted oil filter.

Even now 6 months later oil consumption is high and I have been back to the dealer twice for refilling. At the 20,000 KM service he is to review the situation (probably will tell me all is well until I return again).

It took 6 months for the dealer to supply me with the service book and operation manual for the car.

The headlights seem to flicker when driving at night.

Fuel consumption is higher that specified by the manufacturer. Despite a conservative driving style I only average about 6.8 to 7 liters of diesel per 100 KM. I had expected better.

General Comments:

The car is very comfortable to drive especially on major highways. Options such as cruise control and parking assistance sensors in the rear bumper add to the pleasure of this vehicle.

It accelerates reasonably well for a car that is almost 1.5 ton heavy.

Lots of space in this station wagon and it has a commanding presence on the roads.

If it was not for the small issues or better said the dealers inadequate response to my concerns I'd be very pleased with this car so far.

2002 Citroen C5 Exclusive Estate 2.2 Hdi from UK and Ireland

Summary:

A great family car - at a good price. So far so good..

Faults:

So far only the following - the reason for seeking opinion here...

1) The radio (CD + CD Changer model) has big problems with weak stations that the '93 Xantia has NO problem with (if checked in the same location at the same time - ie allowing for bad reception conditions). RDS will not kick in - and there appears to be a lot of mushy interference. The Xantia will allow me to listen to weak stuff quite happilly with reasonbale sound, the C5 is relatively distorted as well as noisy. I am referring it to the dealer for attention during the first free service. ==Has anyone else this problem? Please comment...==

2) The automatic lights come on too late in my opinion - particularly in bad weather when the lighting conditions are poor I have to override the auto. Have asked dealer if they can adjust - no answer yet.

General Comments:

Overall very happy with this car. (Bar the above issues) it does everything it says on the tin.

Handling is great although I'm yet to realise what Sport does for me. It is an easy vehicle to drive quickly and still feel safe.

It occasionally feels like the back end jolts to one side when hitting a bump, but there is no loss of control.

Fuel consumption appears v. good - still running mine in - expect it to improve more. Achieving 38mpg average - lots of local kids taxi work plus some longer non-motorway trips.

For a biggish car it's easy to park although the lack of turning circle can be annoying - OK a few more manouevers are required, but I think they got this wrong - it certainly makes using multi-story car parks with sharp bends more difficult, but still posssible.

Auto wipers work v.well, but don't like having to return switch to off and back to auto each time car is restarted. Same for rear wipe - you cannot just leave it set and turn it off if you don't want it.

The only other gripes I have are:

The radio controls on the steering stalk are fiddly and don't fall nicely to hand.

Similarly the cruise control doesn't feel nice, but works very well.

The boot lid (estate) has to be pulled down and coaxed shut - it needs to be much better ballanced. Xantia is perfect (: (

The boot catch works, but doesn't feel/sound very solid. Will ask dealer about it.

There is a small delay (1s?) on operating headlights (main to dip, not strangely dip to main). Same with the horn.

12th Nov 2002, 15:52

Re my poor C5 radio reception: Interesting comment re Xsara. My dealer confirms there is a problem (first hurdle overcome at least) and will investigate under warranty. I =think= it was OK when new (all of 4wks ago). I will have chance to A-B test with another C5 later this week. My own theory is noise from one of the many electronic systems - it could be a nightmare to diagnose - let's see...